The St. Ambrose bowlers are off to a solid start to the 2021-2022 campaign.

Competing at the Midwest Collegiate Championships this past weekend in Milwaukee, Wis., the men's squad found themselves in fourth place after six Saturday team games, trailing Marian (Indiana) by 197 pins. They then averaged more than 217 for 16 baker games on Sunday to surge into the 8-team bracket finals as the No. 1 seed in the 41-team men's field.

They knocked out No. 8 seed Judson 2-0 in their opening match before falling to No. 6 seed Webber International 2-0 in the semi-final match. SAU's 46-game 2-day total was 9772, and they were followed by McKendree (9634) and SCAD (Savannah College of Art & Design) (9530).

As one of five Tier 1 events St. Ambrose competes in each season, the tournament carries double points, and the results will help the Bees' national ranking when the USBC power poll is updated. 

Individually, Nate Stubler tied with Marian's Jordan Shephard for top honors. Stubler tallied a 1394 pinfall for his six games - an average of 232.33. Other team members were William Jones (1235-six games), Dakota Solonka (1203-six games), Jordan Monnens (980-five games), Corey Roth (732-three games), Seth Sikkema (552-three games), Zach Greim (190-one game) and Alex Nolan.

The new era in women's bowling at St. Ambrose got off to a great start, as they qualified fourth in a field of 30 teams. After a 5507 pinfall total for six Saturday team games, the women came back with 2867 for 16 baker games on Sunday. The resulting 8374 put them as the No. 4 seed, trailing Mount Mercy (8859), Webber International (8799) and Midland (8577). The Bees were defeated 2-0 by eventual tournament champion SCAD (Savannah College of Art & Design). 

The Bees were led by junior Addy Nelson who finished in 10th place with her 1182 for six games. Teammates were Karsyn Burgess (1036-six games), Tricia Alvarado (966-five games), Kayla Devine (878-five games), Megan Hess (743-four games), Sarah Fox (702-four games), Bailey Tripilas and Sammy Upham. This was the first event contested with new women's coach Greg Hockett at the helm.

Next up on the SAU schedule is the Tier 1 Mid-States Championships in Wichita, Kan., on Oct. 16-17. Varsity and JV squads will compete in this event.